Monday 17 December 2007 19.00 EST
First published on Monday 17 December 2007 19.00 EST

Iran passed a significant milestone in its quest for nuclear power status yesterday when it received a first delivery of enriched uranium from Russia, allowing for the completion of a long-delayed reactor at Bushehr.

The head of Iran's atomic energy organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, announced that 80 tonnes of fuel had been received, with further consignments expected in the next two months.

The delivery appeared to signal a weakening of the international coalition opposing Iranian nuclear ambitions which the US and its allies suspect are aimed at building an atomic bomb.

It also means Iran is just months away from having its first nuclear power station, after years of delays. The Russian contractors building the Bushehr plant, which will be used to generate electricity, say it could be operational within six months.

Yesterday's delivery marked a change of tack by Moscow and put it on a possible collision course with the Bush administration, which has led international pressure on Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment programme.

Russia had held back the fuel needed to run the Bushehr site, ostensibly because of a payment dispute but in reality out of support for western efforts to isolate Iran, which have already resulted in two sets of UN security council sanctions.

Momentum towards a new security council resolution that would produce a third embargo has slowed after a report from 16 US intelligence agencies this month concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons programme in 2003 and had not re-started it.

But the Bush administration continues to regard Iran's nuclear programme as dangerous and has urged the council's five permanent members, including Russia, to maintain the pressure.

In an apparent placatory gesture to Washington, Russia's foreign ministry called on Iran to respond to the deliveries by suspending enrichment: "We believe qualitatively new conditions have been created which will allow Iran to take the steps which are demanded of it ... for the restoration of trust in the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear programme."

But Reuters quoted an unnamed Iranian official as saying the fuel agreement would not result in the halting of enrichment.

The Russian foreign ministry said it had only agreed to the delivery after Iran provided written guarantees that the fuel would be used exclusively at Bushehr. It said all deliveries would be under the control of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog.

"This fuel delivery provides Iran with one more reason to suspend their nuclear programme," the White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. "If the Russians are providing the Iranians fuel, the Iranians have no reason to enrich uranium themselves."